Medicinal applicator



July 25, 1950 M. E. WEST MEDICINAL APPLICATOR Filed Au 19, 1947 Patented July 25, 1950 MEDICINAL APPLIoA'roR Marvin E. West, Chicago, Ill. Application August 19, 1947, Serial No. 769,397

' My invention relates to devices for dispensing and applying medicaments to the eye, and more particularly includes a device attachable to a liquid medicine container and having aneyecu'p into and through which a predeterminedquantity of the liquid medicine may be discharged into the eye. Heretofore, in applying medicaments to the eye, considerable difiiculty has been encountered. An eyecup has often been used into which a quantity of liquid medicine is poured, the cup has been held over the eye, and the patient, with his head thrown backwards, has managed, by rolling his eyeball and winking his eyelid,to get some of the medicine into the eye. More often than not, however, such an application of eye medicine results in a spilling and wasting of the medicine, and the quantity of medicine actually applied to the affected eye is quite uncertain. Moreover,

eyecups are frequently lost or misplaced, and -cannot be found when needed. i

A device also commonly used for applying .medic'aments to the eye is an eye dropper. Such devices are advantageous in that the quantity 'of medicine applied may be controlled'with relaan eye dropper requires someone other than the patient to administer the medicine.

Moreover, eye droppers, like eyecups, are frequently lost or mislaid and cannot be found when the need therefor arises.

The device of the present invention avoids 1 these objections to the eyecups and eye droppers now in common use.

An important object of the invention is to provide a device which may be attached to a bottle ger of being lost or misplaced.

Another object is to provide a device which combines the advantages of both the common eyecup and the eye dropper, while avoiding the objections inherent in each of such devices.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a dispensing device for eye medicaments, which may be used by the patient without. assistance.

3 Claims. (01. 128-249) or container of liquid eye medicine so, that. it is always ready and available for use without dan- Other objects and advantages inherent in the invention will be apparent from the following specification and description.

In the drawings, filed herewith, there is shown a preferred form of the device, in which Fig. 1 is agfront elevational view of the dispensing device shown attached to a bottle or container for the eye medicine; and

Fig. 2 is a central vertical cross-sectional view of the device and the upper portion of a container, illustrating the structure ofthe-device and the -method of attaching it to a bottle or container.

Eye medicines are commonly sold in small bottles having screw, threaded tops upon which is screwed a top ;or closure usually made of plastic material. Such container l0, having a threaded plastic closure i2, is shown in the drawings.

Although the eyecup and nozzle portion of the device may be made of 'manysuitable materials,

and may be made of several parts and assembled, it is desirable to'make it of plastic material molded in asingle piece. This portionincludes pan eyecup M of. conventional form, having a nozzle 'llirising from the bottom' of the-cup a short distance, substantially lessthan half the depth of the cup. Extending'from the bottom of the eyecup is a'stem l8. Near the free end of the stem I8 a circumferential groove 20 is cut out of the stem to accommodate a diaphragm 2B.

A passageway 22 extends axially through the center of'the-stem H? and its nozzle portion Hi to provide a communicating passageway from the inside of the container ID to the inside of the eyecup l4. While'the' dimensions of this passageway may vary considerably, very satisfactory results may be -obtained by providing a hole about .050 inch in" diameter "and approximately .187 inch deep at the" nozzle end, and approximately .094 inch in diameter at the stem'end, the latter Thole being tapered, gradually reducing in diameter until it'meets the".050 inch diameter portion at the nozzle end. With most liquid medicines, an opening of .050 inch is of capillary dimensions, that is, the medicine will not flow from the opening when the bottle is inverted, unless shaken or unless'pressure is applied.

There is thus provided, in a single piece, an eyecup, a nozzle in the eyecup, and a stem enclosing a passageway, with a circumferential tainer.

course, upon the size of the diaphragm, and the 3 which will be of the same standard size. The top closure I2 has a hole 24 slightly larger than the diameter of the stem 18, but preferably not larger in diameter than the inside diameter of the bottle or container neck. This will leave a circumferential flange 26 surrounding the opening, to serve as a diaphragm retainer.

The diaphragm 28 is preferably made of rubber or synthetic rubber, which is fairly soft and pliable. This is made of a size and shape to fit snugly inside the closure [2, the outer edge of the diaphragm 2B abutting against the flange 26 which prevents the diaphragm from being pulled through the opening 24 in the closure l2 inordinary use. In the center of the diaphragm 23 there is provided an opening 30 of about the same diameter as the stem at the point of the circumferential groove 2!}. By stretching the diaphragm over the free end of the stem 18 and pushing it up "on the stem, the edges of the diaphragni surcup and diaphragm assembly is then pulled outwardly from the closure l2 until the outer edge of the diaphragm fits snugly against the flange 26L The closure I2 is then screwed tightly upon the top of the container 10, securing'the outer edge of the diaphragm 28 tightly between the flange 26 and the top edge 32 of the container,

and the entire assembly is readyfor use, assummg, of course, that the liquid medicine is in the container.

'In using this device, the patient grasps the container and places the eye cup portion around his eye; throwing his head backwardly so that the container is elevated above his eye. By pressing very lightly downwardly upon the'container, the 'eyecup being held against. the face, the dia- 'phragm 28 in the portion thereof between the stem 18 and the inside of the container neck, will be flexed inwardly toward the interior of the con- To a very slight degree, depending, of

size of the container, this flexure of the diaphragm will increase the pressurewithin the container and will cause a small amount of medicine, which amount can be predetermined, to be ejected from the container through the passageway 22 and out of the nozzle-l6. If'the patient keeps his eye open, this ejected medicine will be "applied directly to his eyeball. If, however, he closes his eye, the medicine will still be retainedabout the eye by the eyecup and will be applied to the eyeball by a lifting, fluttering, or winking of the eyelid. I l

It will be understood, of course, that when pressure is applied 'to the eyecup at a time when the passageway opening insidethe container is covered with liquid, the slight flexure of the diaphragm 28 decreases slightly the interior capacity of the container. This increases the pressure within the container, which results in the ejection of some of the liquid medicine. Since most medicinal preparations for the eye are packaged in glass bottles, the device described provides the flexible diaphragm illustrated and described as a means to apply pressure to the contents of the receptacle in order to eject a portion thereof. It will be understood, of course, that the eyecup, nozzle, and stem portion of the device could be rigidly mounted on the closure or cast integrally therewith, and the container body could be made of flexible material such as plastic or light metal. In such cases a squeezing of the sides of the container could supply the necessary pressure to eject some of the liquid medicine. However, the form'illustrated is preferred, because with this device the quantity of medicine dispensed can be controlled with greater accuracy.

From the foregoing description of the device, it will be seen that there is provided a device for applying medicaments to the eye which retains the advantages of both an eyecup and an eye dropper, and at the same time eliminates the common objections to such devices.

I claim:

1. In combination, a medicine container, a closure therefor, an eyecup having a nozzle therein and a'stem depending therefrom connected to said closure, a passageway through the closure,

the stem, and the nozzle, communicating between the interior of the container and said eyecup, and compressible means for decreasing the capacity of saidcontainer to eject a predetermined quantity of-medicine through said nozzle including a flexible diaphragm carried by said stem, the outer edges of which diaphragm are retained between said container and the closure therefor; i

2. An eye medicine dispenser adapted to be mounted upon a medicine container and comprising an eyecup, a nozzle therein, apassageway communicating between the interior of the container and the nozzle, a flexible diaphragm mounted upon a stem surrounding the passageway; said diaphragm being adapted to be mounted "and retained upon said container by a top closure therefor.

3.'An eyecup adapted to be attached to a medicine container and comprising in a unitary structure an eyecup, a, nozzle in the interior of the cup, and a stem depending from the bottom of the cup and having a passageway through said stem and nozzle, 2. flexible diaphragm mounted upon said stem and having its outer edges retained between the lipof said container and the closure therefor and attached to said medicine container through an opening in the topclosure therefor-.-

MARVIN E. WEST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: a

i UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,654,888 King Jan. 3, 1928 

